This cartoon glorifies the military exploits of Sir Colin Campbell,
the British commander who suppressed a revolt among native garrisons of
the British Army in India in 1857-1858. The event is known as the
Indian Mutiny or the Sepoy Riots, from the British perspective, and the
First War of Independence, from the Indian point of view. Here, Campbell
is depicted as a giant, clad in the kilt of his Scottish
homeland, who slays the Indian rebels.

Since the late-eighteenth century, the East India Company had
administered the government for much of the territory of India under the
auspices of a commission of the British government. There were
three administrative units, Bengal in the north, Madras in the
southeast, and Bombay in the west, with a viceroy headquartered in
Calcutta (Bengal).

Beginning in the early-nineteenth century, the British increasingly
sought to impose British culture upon the Indians through religion,
education, language, and the law. The British also pursued a
policy of territorial expansion within India during the early and middle
decades of the nineteenth century. From the 1820s into the 1840s,
this was sometimes accomplished by military engagements, while from 1848
through 1854, four native states were annexed when their rulers died
without heirs.

In 1856, the British viceroy, Lord Dalhousie, deposed the allegedly
corrupt ruler of Oudh (in north-central India), and annexed his kingdom
even though he had legitimate heirs. That shift in British policy
made every native Indian state vulnerable to annexation. The
trends of cultural and territorial imperialism combined with other
factors to produce a very tense situation by 1857.

The trigger for the rebellion was the rumor that a new type of paper
cartridge was greased with animal fat, which was religiously offensive
to Indian soldiers in the British armed forces. The cartridges had
to be bitten before use, so grease from cattle would violate religious
restrictions of the Hindus, and grease from swine, that of the
Muslims.

Although British officials withdrew the
cartridges, violence erupted in May 1857 when native garrisons mutinied
against the British Army, hoping to restore the Mogul emperor, Bahadur
Shah II, to power. Since native soldiers constituted over 95% of
the British military in India, they were able to amass a sizable army. However,
religious and cultural divisions among the Indians prevented their
unity, with the Sihks in the Punjab, for example, remaining loyal to the
British.

Colin Campbell (pictured here)
was appointed as the British commander in charge of suppressing the
Indian rebellion. He had previously served the British Army in the
War of 1812 in the United States, the Opium War (1842) in China, and the
Second Sikh War (1848-1849) in India. Although some criticized his
tactics in 1857-1858 as overly cautious, he lost few men and was able to
quash the revolt in a few months.

The fighting was limited mainly to Allahabad,
Delhi, Lucknow, Meerut, and other places in the Ganges Valley of
northern India, although there were also skirmishes in Madras
(southeast), Bombay (west-central), and the Punjab (northwest). In
the early summer of 1857, the rebels had quickly seized Delhi and
Lucknow, to which the British laid seize. In September, the
British were able to reoccupy Delhi fully, but did not recapture Lucknow
until March 1858. A final uprising in central India was put down
in April.

In appreciation for Campbell's
military leadership, Queen Victoria granted him a peerage as Baron Clyde
and an annual pension. In August 1858, the British government
dissolved the East India Company and assumed direct rule over India
through the new position of secretary of state for India. The
percentage of British in the Indian armed forces was increased
significantly. The rebellion and its suppression did irreparable
harm to the already worsening relations between the British and the
Indians.